Ice pack



June 7', 1938.

J.'D. K-BATES ICE PACK Filed June 15. 1936 Patented June '-7,' 1938 I vUNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE elixir; filli g 1:21 32? 1: 2:42;

claims. .(ci. 150-21) This invention relates to devices which are in-Fig. 4 is a view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. tended to be applied to apart of the human body 3, and or to any article to cool the same byremoving Fig. 5 is a view taken on the line 15- -5 of Fig.

heat therefrom, I 1 and showing a further form which the inven- .5 Bythe present inventionit is proposed to protion may take. 5 5 vide ahollow impervious receptacle or container According to this invention, Ipropose to prohaving a substantial'quantity of a liquid sealed videasealed container which is preferably formed therein, which container maybe placed in a reof flexible, impervious material, preferablyrubfrigerator or other cooling; device to freeze the her, and'in whichis sealed a quantity of 'a'liquid,

1o entrapped liquid. This device may then be apsuch as water, which maybe frozen'in such an v plied to the body part, or article to be cooled,and ordinarily-available cooling device as a housebeing relativelycolder than the partor article hold refrigerator by placing the entiredevice to be cooled, will remove heat therefrom and cool within therefrigerator. Such a cooling apand maintain cold'the part orarticle towhich pliance is illustrated generally in Fig. 1 and it will f it isapplied. While devices of this general type be seen that the same may beformed, if desired; 15 have been-heretofore proposed, the novel conoftwo substantially flat open-sided receptacle ,struction of the containeraccording to the presmembers I, 2 disposed in face-to-face engagement 7ent invention provides considerable advantages and united by vulcanizingor otherwise attaching over prior art constructions. their meetingedges. As illustrated in Fig. 1

It is an object of this invention to provide a these members may haveformed, about the free 20 cooling appliance of the type described whichwill edges thereof, flanges 3, 4 which abut when the be so constructedas to permit it, when the entwo members are brought together and whichtrapped liquid is frozen, to be bent to conform to may be. united. inthe manner described to any part or article which it is desired tocooland thereby provide a hollow container which is to which the coolingdevice may be applied. formed of impervious, preferably flexible ma-Another object is to provide a cooling device terial. A quantity of aliquid, preferably water, of the type described which will be providedinis put into this container before the sealing operteriorly with meansaboutwhich the ice will be ation, this quantity of water beingpreferably frozen and which, when the device is bent to less than thevolume of the container in order to adapt it to a body part or articleto be cooled, prevent any possible rupture of the container 30 willcause the ice to be broken into small and when the included liquid isfrozen. It willbe aprelatively uniform pieces which will be so disparentthat the method of inserting the liquid posed within the device as notto present any into the appliance forms no part of the invenbumps orprotruding edges. tion, and the liquid may, if desired, be injected Itis also an object of the invention to provide into the container afterthe sealing operation has 35 -acooling appliance of the type describedwhich been performed. It has been found that the best may be easily andcheaply manufactured and results are obtained by removing a substantialwhich will be strong and rugged in construction. part of the air fromthe container before sealing Other objects and features of novelty willbe the same, as the presence of a substantial amount 40 apparent fromthe following description and the of air within the container retardsthe freezing 4o annexed drawing, it being clearly understood, of thewater therein. however, that the invention is not limited in any Oneform which my invention may take is ilway by such description anddrawing, which are lustrated in Fig. 2 and, referring to this figure,illustrative only, or otherwise than by the apit will be seen that meansare provided for prepended claims. venting the formation of a solid massor sheet 45 Referring to the drawing, in which similar refof ice withinthe receptacle. Such means comerence numerals refer to like parts,prise, in this form of. the invention, a plurality Fig. 1 is aperspective view of a cooling-apof posts or studs 5, which arepreferably formed pliance which may be formed according to theintegrally with and of the same material as one present invention; ofthe outer walls of the receptacle, and which 50' Fig. 2 is a crosssectional view taken on the extend from such wall toward the oppositewall line 2--2 ofFlg. 1 and showing one form which and into the interiorof the" container. These the invention may take; posts or studs may beof any desired thickness or Fig. 3 is aview, similar to'Fig. 2, andshowing shape and, inthis form of the invention, are of a modified formof the invention; 5 such a length that they extend approximately to 55 I9,190,013 the opposite wall of the' container'and may be cooling device,,it

regularly or irregularly spaced on the wall from be used as a heatingpad by applying heat there! which they extend. It is or studs be'spacedover substantially-the entire v; wall-into the other half orportion" ofthe container.

If the studs are so formed that they do not overlap each other, asillustrated in Fig. 3.

'the studs extending from opposite wall members may be disposed oppositeeach other or may be staggered with relation to each other.

Regardless of the length or disposition of the studs, it will be seenthat they will extend into the liquid entrapped within the containerand, when such liquid is frozen, will -in effect, form holes in the iceand prevent the formation ofa solid massor sheet. of-ice within theappliance thereby permitting the ice to.be broken into 1 small, regularpieces. In the preferred form of the invention the studs are arrangedover the en-- tire area of the cooling appliance, and consequently theice which is formed therein is formed .in only small connected masseswhich are easily broken apart. The entire appliance may, therefore, beeasilybent with the hands to any desired shape and aftrbeing-bent, theice therein will i be in small regular'pleces instead of being in largefree, irregularlumps as in the usual ice .Intlie embodiment of myinvention disclosed in FigiSgthe cooling appliance may take the sameform andbe constructed in the same manner as that disclosed in Fig. 1.In this" modification, however, thezst'uds are omitted and the hollowinterior of the appliance is filled, or substantially filled, with asponge rubber element, or a plurality of smaller similar-elements. Thissponge rubber member is saturated with a liquid, suchas water,preferably before being sealed within the appliance. When required, thecooling appliance so formed may be placed within a refrigerator or othercooling device and the en trapped liquid frozen. It will be apparentthat the ice which will be formed within the appliance will becompletely enmeshed withthe sponge rubber. This will effectually preventthe formation of any large rigid mass of ice and will insure that theice formed within the appliance may be easily broken, whereby thecoolingappliance may be easily and quickly bent to any desired shape. I4 p It will be apparent that the'appliance, instead of being formedoftwo connected members, may be formed in any other manner and in anydesiredshape. Also, if desired, the twohalves'of the container may beconnected in some manner whereby they may be separated, either wholly orpartly. If such a construction is employed, the container need only befilled with liquid when it is to be used and at other times the liquidmay be removed therefrom. The appliance may also be formed of anymaterial other than rubber, as desired.

While it is primarily intended that the appllance hereinbefore describedbe employed as a preferred that the posts 3 to instead of; cooling theappliance. Also, while \thedevicedescribed is particularly adapted fortherapeutic uses, it will be apparent that it may be employed wheneverit is desired to cool any article, foodstufi or other material, andwhile certain of the claims may refer to the invention as a therapeuticdevice it will be understood that this term is descriptive only and isnot to Mil be apparent that it may be construed as placing anylimitation on the.

scope of the claims.

. It may be found to be desirable to form-the bag. In this event theposts cannot easily be formed on-the inner surfaces of the walls of thebagand, with such a construction, my invention contemplates that a flatpartition member having posts or studs over substantially-the en- 'tirearea of both sides thereof be formed andbe inserted within the bag tothereby divide the bag' into two flat portions each having studs orposts extending therein. If desired, this studded partition sheet may beformed of thin, bendable sheet metal as may be all portions of themesentinvention.

While in the preferred form of .the invention -the studs form the meansfor insuring that the ice within the container may be easily broken,it'is also proposed that instead of the posts or studs, the oppositeinner walls of the container be provided with laterally-extendingridges' or alternate ridges and grooves, whereby the ice is frozenintoalternate thick and thin portions and may -beeasilybroken. Suchridges may be formed on the opposite sides of the partition sheetdescribed above, in place of the studs thereon.

While I have illustrated and described various forms of my invention, itwill be apparent to those 'skilledin the art that the invention issusceptible of other forms and modifications, and that improvements maybe made therein, all without departing in any way from the spirit orscope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be had tothe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A therapeutical device, comprising a container adapted to contain aliquid, and a sponge rubber member disposed within said container andlying within the liquid within said container and adapted to prevent theformation of large masses of ice within said container when said liquidis frozen, whereby said device may be easily bent to a desired shape.

2. A therapeutical device comprising a hollow container formed .offlexible material and having a quantity ,of a liquid contained therein,and a memberclisposed within said container and com-' prisinga .flexlblemass which substantially fills the space within said container and whichisformcd with a large number of openings throughout which communicatewith the exterior of said member and within which the liquid within saidcontainer is received, said member being adapted to prevent theformation of large masses of ice 'within the containcr when the liquidtherein is frozen, whereby the device may be bent to a desired shape.

3. A therapeutics] device comprising a hollow container formed offlexible material andhaving 79 and which is formed with a large numberof, I

openings throughout which communicate with the exterior of said memberand within which the liquid within said container is received,saidmemher being adapted to prevent the iormation of large masses of icewithin the container when the liquid therein is frozen, whereby thedevice may be bent to a desired shape.

4. A therapeutical device comprising a hollow, closed container formedof flexible material and having a quantity of a liquid containedtherein, and ,a plurality of perforate members disposed within saidcontainer and which substantially fill the space within said container,each of said members being formed with a large number of openingsthroughout which communicate with the exterior thereoiand within whichthe liquid within said container is received, whereby the liquid withinsaid container, when frozen, will form small, irregular masses of icewhich may be easily broken to permit the device to be bent to a desiredshape.

5, A therapeutical device comprising a hollow, closed container formedof flexible material, and a fluid-saturated sponge-like member disposedwithin and substantially filling the space within said container, thefluid within said member being adapted to be frozen.

JOSEPH D. BATES.

